Statistical Support Services

Based within the Population, Policy and Practice Programme,
SSS is available to staff from ICH and GOSH and provides statistical
support to researchers contributing to the maintenance of high standards
of published research within the joint institution.

We advise on the statistical aspects of proposals or current projects. This may include any of the following:

We encourage researchers to consult a statistician early in
the planning stage of a project, ideally we should become involved at
the Grant preparation stage. If the statistical component is substantial
and/or non-standard, we may become a named co-investigator.

Study design

Study design is an essential aspect of medical research. Our training and experience enable us to help you with
the design and conduct of trials and surveys, for example Design, Sample Size
calculations,
organisation of data and plans for Statistical Analysis.

Statistical analysis

We can advise on the most appropriate methods of
statistical analysis, and once the data has been collected can guide
the investigator through the necessary procedures. Generally researchers
are expected to carry out the analysis themselves.

Advice on the use of
the statistics package SPSS is available from Information Systems
Division's Drop In Training Service at Central UCL. Further information about
SPSS licensing and training resources is also available. Alternatively,
where we feel that the appropriate analysis is not straightforward and a
relatively complex analysis is needed, we may offer to collaborate in
the analysis more directly, and funding will be required for this.

Authorship

To ensure the career development of the SSS statisticians,
it is important that they are offered authorship for their consultancy
work where appropriate. A statistician who has contributed
either to the design or the analysis of a study has made a significant
contribution.

Where the statistician is not an author but is to be
acknowledged, in either a paper or the statistics section of an ethical
submission, their permission must be obtained first.

ICH/GOSH Staff

If you experience any problems in submitting the
Statistical Advice Request Form then please contact our administrator on x 42340.

External Requests

Please contact ich.sss@ucl.ac.uk with details of your project and input required for a quotation.

Important Guidelines

If a statistician is to be named on any publication,
including grant applications and ethics forms, then prior permission
MUST be obtained.

The full document on which their name is to be included,
MUST be submitted with at least one week's notice to ensure the
statistician has sufficient time to review and approve the document.

Meetings normally take place in the statistican's office in
ICH, but alternatively can be in a meeting room in GOSH or your own
room, if required.

At the initial consultation you should outline the whole
project. Please bring a description of the data to be collected, along
with any other relevant information (e.g. details of previous studies).

Do please give the statistician adequate time to do justice to
your work. If you have a deadline please discuss this with the
statistician well in advance. SSS cannot be responsible for deadlines
missed on this account.

If you are a junior research student your supervisor MUST be present when you meet the statistician.

Where a statistician has made an appropriate contribution to
the project, it is expected that they will be offered co-authorship.
Authorship guidelines can be found on ourhomepage.

Qualifying Research

All research projects in the joint institution are expected to be
registered with the R&D Office, and this is a requirement for
projects seeking support from SSS. In addition researchers developing a
grant application seek statistical support on the understanding that
they will include the full funds to pay for it in the application.

External
non-commercial research charged at the hourly rate also qualifies.

Recent and Current Projects

Statisticians from SSS are co-applicants on numerous
successful grants from funders such as NIHR, and INSPIRE-CF.

Working with a team led by members of the cardiac
team at Great Ormond Street Hospital, we are co-applicants on a NIHR
HS&DR project to
select, define and evaluate early morbidities associated with pediatric
cardiac surgery following heart surgery.

INSPIRE-CF: A randomised
controlled trial investigating the clinical and economic benefits of an
alternative model of physiotherapy care for children with Cystic Fibrosis.